[Lardman]

Its getting warm on the patio lately, very warm, in excess of 30 degrees. This has presented a new problem for me to deal with, its getting rather "ripe" out there.  I thought I might relocate the girls away from the house so they're not  fertilizing the patio all day.

Id love to just let the roam free but I have dogs both sides, 3ft fences and foxes at the bottom of the garden so I need to build them a semi permanent run.  I was thinking of 10x16ish, as there are just 3 girls. Will the grass stand any chance of lasting the summer ? I'll move them back onto the patio or onto the veg patch around October time.

[Rubellite]

Will the grass stand any chance of lasting the summer ?

Hell, no  Kiss goodbye to your lawn for the summer 

[Roughlee Handled]

Hi the minimum area is 1 square meter per chuck or 11 square feet BUT this is not enough practically.  We normally recommend a minimum 2 square meters or 22 square feet per chicken.
You will need a run of minimum 66 square feet, which is roughly a 8ft by 8 ft run.

[Lardman]

Hell, no  Kiss goodbye to your lawn for the summer 

I don't mind the loss of the lawn - saves me having to mess around cutting it  But as they're used to playing in a much larger area with lots of things to do, Im worried they'll get bored if theres no grass or other stuff to peck at. I image a bored muddy chicken isn't a happy chicken.

At 160sq ft I wondered how long Id get before they reduced it to a muddy puddle.

[Rubellite]

At 160sq ft I wondered how long Id get before they reduced it to a muddy puddle.

Don't know ......... but I've just ordered some leccy fencing which will do 40ft x 40ft for summer quarters for my 4 girls and I WANT them to scratch out the weeds from the grass, (within about 2 weeks ) so I can move it on. I've got a whole field I want to get the weeds down in. (I do cut it once a week, so no new seeds). They managed well in their existing pen 20ft x 20ft approx. All except the ragwort which I dig out with my ragfork. The moss in the grass lasted about 2 days! I think it depends a lot on the weather. If it rains you'll get mud quicker, otherwise you'll just get bald bits - lol.